Apple adds new iTunes security measures, releases Flashback fix

Security is being beefed-up around Cupertino with Apple improving safety for iTunes account holders and launching a software fix for the harmful Flashback Trojan

Apple is now requiring iOS and iTunes users to provide answers to security questions before downloading new apps and music, and has also issued a fix for the Flashback malware believed to have infested 600,000 Macs.

On a day of defensive maneuvering at Apple, aiming to shore-up the security of legions of its devotees, the company began by feeding users pop-up notifications when they tried to purchase new media content through iTunes and the App Store.

In order to clamp down on increasing instances of account hijacking, all users much now set up security questions, provide a back-up email address and then verify the new information before buying downloading the latest installment of Angry Birds or the new Nic Cage movie.

The company caused some confusion among users, some of whom felt the notification itself may have originated from an untrustworthy source, rather than Apple.

Meanwhile, Apple now claims to be on top of the Flashback malware issue, having sent out a Java for Mac OS X software fix. The remedy claims to detect and remove the malicious software, which was able to harvest private information from user accounts.

Earlier this week, the company pledged to come up with a solution for the most notorious Mac Trojan to ever come into being. Let's hope that one's done and dusted, and Mac OS X can get back to being a virus-free entity.